Though Worlds Separate Us
by iceredrose
Summary: Yuri was left out in the telling of Kingdom Hearts, but now we see her story. She's inlove with Riku, but does he love her? Can she find him and save him in time to tell her of her love for him? Or will he only e able to see Kairi? Riku/Oc, slight S/K
1. Pologue

Every one who's ever played kingdom hearts has known about Kairi…That Riku and Sora loved her very much…but no one has heard of Yuri, the forgotten girl who was in love with Riku. Well, this is her story.

"Come on Kairi!" Riku and Sora ran off ahead of Kairi towards the raft they were making.

"Guys…What ever happened to Yuri?" Kairi sat to catch her breath. "She was here one day, then gone."

Riku hung his head slightly. "She told me where she was going." The others looked at him expectantly. "A different world."

~flashback~

Riku stood at the dock facing four boats: his, Sora's, Kairi's, and Yuri's. Yuri stood at the other end of the dock. Her purple eyes were sad and her short black hair kept falling in her face. She wore a purple skirt and a black tank top. "I have to leave Riku." Tears shown in her eyes. "I can't live here any more. My mother and I, we're going to try and find a new place to live."

"Why?" Riku's voice sounded happy, uncaring even, but he cared.

"I just," she looked at her shifting feet. "I just have to leave." Yuri got in her boat and rowed away, never looking back at Riku who stared after her well after she was out of sight.

~end flashback~

"That's all, she just needed a new place to live, kinda like we do. Hey, maybe we'll find her in one of the places we find." Riku smiled and they continued their work, but underneath Riku's happy exterior, he wondered if he really would find her, the girl who haunted his thoughts.

A/N I know this is short, but hey, it's only the prologue. Bare with me for this first story. I have to get through the first part to get to the second part. There will be a second story with these characters later, but we first have to make it through this journey to understand the second one. Thank you.


	2. A New Place and New Friends

Ch. 1

Yuri wandered the dark streets. The world she had been living in with her mother was destroyed, along with her friends, and her mother. Everything she had was on her back. She still didn't understand how she of all people survived. When the black things came she tried to fight them off with her wooden sword, but it went right through them. Then, as darkness was swallowing her, a voice in her head called out to her, it sounded so close and yet so very far away. It said something about the light and when she opened her eyes again there was a sword in her hand, except it was shaped weird. Around the handle was a heart as a wrist guard. The blade was a mix of blood red, maroon and black. The end was shaped like a heart key, at the handle a black heart guarded her wrist. She started swinging it around and found that she could destroy the black things with three hits. Then, a very very large shadow came up from the ground and sent the little ones out from his hands. She was trying to kill it when it got sucked up into a large black hole. Yuri tried running away. She tried hiding in her room, but nothing worked. The roof of her house was torn off and the black hole sucked her up. She blacked out and when she woke up she was in water, a big dark cave filled with water. She managed to swim around and fine a way out and now she was walking through the streets, ever on her guard for the dark creatures.

A man dropped from the sky and landed in front of her. He had long brown hair and a scar across his face. "Let me see that." He pointed to her blade.

"Why?" Her voice was hard and mistrusting.

"Just give it."

"How to I know that I can trust you? What if you're with those black things?" She got ready for a fight.

"Those things are heartless and I need to talk to you, give that thing to me."

"No." They fought and Yuri won in the end. The man lay on his back and Yuri pointed her blade at his neck. "Leave me alone." Yuri ran off into the darkness and again wandered the streets.

When Yuri had found her way to what seemed to be the front of the town she found a young boy and began talking to him. "Hello, where are we?"

"This is Traverse Town."

"Oh, where are you from?"

"Well, I lived in this place, but it was destroyed and I found my way here."

"Yeah, that's what happened to me too."

"Really? Did the heartless come to your world too?"

"Heartless? Are those the black creatures?" The boy nodded. "Yeah, that's what happened."

"I'm sorry."

"Do you know how to get to a different world?"

"Go talk to Cid. He's in that shop over there." The boy pointed to a store at the top of some steps.

"Thank you." Yuri left him and went into the store she was shown. When she walked in she saw a man behind the counter with yellow hair and what looked like a popsicle stick in his mouth. "Excuse me?"

The man turned to face her. "Only a kid. Don't get any real customers." He mumbled under his breath.

"I'm sorry to bother you, I'm not a kid. Look I need a gummi ship. I was told to talk to you about one. I have to go warn my friends." Cid looked at her skeptically. "I can pay you." He smiled.

"Alright. I've got one right outside those gates. Here're the keys. You can pay me when you get back. Don't hurt her too bad." She thanked him and ran through the front gates and found the gummi ship.

"It's small, but it'll do." She hopped in and started it up. "I hope I can fly this thing." It took a while but she finally got the hang of it. She plugged in the coordinates from a map for Destiny Island and flew there, but when she got there she didn't see the island. It was too late. Her friends were gone because she couldn't save them. "Riku…" She whispered the name of the boy she'd loved and would never see again. Yuri cried, she cried until her eyes felt like they were bleeding. Then she pulled herself together and made her way back to Traverse Town at a leisurely pace this time.

On her way back she found another town that she didn't know and rested there for a night and bought some new clothes before setting off again. When she reached Traverse Town her eyes were still red, but she put makeup on so they didn't look so puffy. She parked the ship and ran to Cid's shop. "Cid." Yuri's black hair fell over her haunting purple eyes when she walked in.

"You ok kid?"

"It's gone….."

"What is?"

"Destiny Island…My friends….Everyone….it's all gone…." Yuri sank onto the steps in front of the door and held her head in her hands.

"Oh." Cid looked slightly uncomfortable as he walked around the counter to sit next to Yuri and put a comforting hand on her back. She turned into him without warning and cried again. Luckily her makeup was water proof and would stay on no matter what. "Hey look kid, you can stay with me if you want. We live with a few people, but I'm sure one of the girls will room with you." Yuri nodded in appreciation. "There's a house in the third district at the entrance, go there. Someone should be there." Yuri again nodded and left for the third district.

She found many heartless in the second district and in the alleyway leading to the third district. When she entered the third district she fought off ten heartless before she was able to look at the house she was being allowed to stay in. When she walked through the door she saw the man who had attacked her earlier. She got her blade and pointed it at him. There were two girls with him, a girl with brown hair and a girl with short dark hair. "Who _are_ you?"

"I think the question is who are you and why do you have a keyblade?" the girl with dark hair spoke. "We already found the keyblade master and sent him on his way."

"The…keyblade master?"

"Yeah, why are your eyes all puffy?"

"Yuffie." The tall girl with light brown hair stepped up. "Why don't we introduce ourselves? My name is Aerith. That is Yuffie and this man is Leon. What is your name?"

Yuri let her blade drop. "Yuri."

"Yuri, are you alright?"

Yuri didn't cry this time. "My friends are gone. My home was destroyed along with my mother, then I flew to Destiny Island to try to warn my childhood friends, but the Island was gone. Along with Sora, Riku, and Kairi."

"Wait, Sora?" Yuffie perked up.

"Yeah, why?"

"He's the keyblade master. We just saw him. He's going to go look for his friends."

Yuri's face lit up. "How long ago did he leave? That means that he thinks they're still alive, they must be."

"Wait." Leon stepped forward and held out his hand for her to wait. "Before you run off looking for them, you might want to train a bit." Yuri thought about the realistic point of view before she complied. "May I see your keyblade?" She reluctantly nodded and handed it over to him. "Do you know what it is called?"

Yuri looked at the floor and bit her lip like she always did when she was thinking. "I think…..Soul Searcher. I feel like that's what it's supposed to be." Leon nodded, satisfied.

"We should begin training tomorrow morning. You can go stay in the room right upstairs." Yuri found her way up to the room and saw that it had a balcony. She went out on it and sat on the railing. _Where are you Riku?..._ A movement to her right made her jerk out of her daze and go back inside.

Yuri spent a month in training before she got her first chance to fight something other than heartless.


	3. It's Not You

Ch. 2 It's not you

Yuri trained until nightfall then started walking around Twilight Town. She had yet to see Sora, and she started to wonder if she would ever find Riku. As Yuri headed back to the house she caught sight of something white. "Riku?" She walked around the corner of the door and found that it wasn't Riku, but a duck and there was a tall dog next to him and next to the dog was…."SORA!" Yuri ran and jumped on him.

"Yuri?" Sora hugged her back and stared at the gang in confusion. "I saw Riku earlier today too."

"You saw Riku? I've been looking for him."

"Oh, so he's not with you?" Yuri shook her head. "Oh well, at least I know he's safe, and I was thinking I might see Kairi soon too." Yuri nodded and smiled encouragingly even though she had come to hate that name. She didn't mind Kairi, she liked Kairi quite a bit, but Riku loved Kairi and that just wasn't fair. "So how did you get here?"

"Well, my town was destroyed by the heartless, and I just kind of appeared here."

"Yeah, that's how I got here the first time too. What have you been doing?"

"Training mostly. I was gonna come looking for you after I got my strength up a bit so I wouldn't be a burden." Yuri smiled to show she was teasing herself.

"I can't imagine you would ever be a burden." Sora smiled back. "Well, whenever you want to, you can come with us. We're going to different places looking for King Mickey, Riku and Kairi."

"Who is King Mickey?" Yuri asked in confusion.

"King Mickey is our King. He told us to follow the Keyblade wherever it goes and to guide it's wielder." The duck explained.

"I'm sorry, who are you guys?" Yuri blushed at the rudeness of that question but the others didn't seem to notice the rudeness.

"I'm Donald, the King's Magician." Said the duck with pride.

"And I'm Goofy, The King's guard." Hyucked the tall dog.

"Ah."

They talked well into the night, but soon the moon started rising and Yuri was exhausted from training that day and knew she had to do something the next day. "Alright, it's bed time for me. I should be up when you guys leave. But in case I'm not, don't stay gone for too long. Good luck in finding the others and it was good to see you." Yuri gave Sora a hug before heading upstairs to her room.

Yuri sat on her balcony and looked out over the moonlit stones. "Riku……where are you?" She fell asleep on the balcony and woke up to hear Sora leaving with his two odd friends. "Bye Sora!" She waved to him from the balcony. He waved back and ran to the gate to the second district.

Yuri took a short hot shower to ease her sore muscles that were gradually getting used to her training. When she was finished she dressed in new attire of a black skirt with chains behind it and a red tank top. As she put her makeup on she saw that the sky was very dark and cloudy. "Better wear a jacket today." She went to her closet and grabbed her black jacket with chains all over it and smiled approvingly at it. Going down the stairs Yuri realized that everyone else was already up for breakfast. "Morning guys." She greeted cheerily.

Leon just sat at the table with his arms folded and his normal scowl in place. Yuri looked up then let her head drop back onto the table. Yuri giggled and walked into the kitchen to say good morning to Aerith. By the time they were done eating breakfast there was a light drizzle. Yuri didn't mind, she loved the rain, it always made a bad situation at least a little better. Leon had told her to take the day off so she spent it with Yuffie and Aerith. They went into the second district and shopped for clothing and looked at weapons. They made their way to the first district and stopped at the café for lunch where Leon met them and they talked and laughed.

Yuri spent the rest of the day walking around in the rain and she went and chatted with Merlin in his home. When Yuri was walking back to the house for dinner on the first night Cid would be home in about a month she heard something behind her. She turned to face the noise and saw a tall male figure with long silver hair. "Riku?" She was breathless.

"I'm looking for Kairi, have you seen her?" His voice was soft and dead.

"Of coarse you are. No. I haven't seen her. Where have you been?" She tried to reach out to him, but he pulled back.

"Around. Where have you been?"

"Here, waiting for you." She tried to reach out to him again.

"Why weren't you looking for any of us?"

"With no training? Die before I could even hope to find you? This is the first time you've seen me in years and you won't even look at me? This isn't like you."

"How would you know? You weren't there for all those years. I changed."

"Obviously." Riku turned and lunged at her with his own blade. "What—" Yuri blocked and swung back. "Riku, what are you doing?"

"You and Sora are in my way, I need to find Kairi."

"Well you'll never find her like this. Go find Sora, he's looking for her too. Then you can be with your precious friends again." Yuri shoved him off and ran into the house crying.

"Yuri?"

"It's not him….it's not him…..he's changing…it's not him." She ran up to her room and collapsed onto the balcony in tears. "It's not him…it can't be him." She whispered before crying herself to sleep.

What was getting into him? He had seen Yuri here and had wanted to talk to her. But when he got the chance he'd pulled away from her. He hadn't been able to tell her that he'd missed her or that he had come here looking for her. When he was talking to Yuri, Kairi seemed to be the only thing that mattered. What was Maleficent doing to him? Riku watched Yuri run onto the balcony connected to her room. She fell and cried, saying to herself that who she met wasn't the Riku she knew. But he had changed in the time that she'd been away. He'd changed even more since he had accepted the darkness.

It would be another two months before she would see him again. During that time Yuri traveled with Sora for a while. She met a man named Tarzan who was apparently raised by gorillas, she went to a wonderful place called Halloween Town and found she changed into a black dress with a witch hat. They went to a place where there was a mermaid called Arial, and an evil sea witch that they had to defeat. And she made many friends along the way. Sora was on his way to another world when Yuri finally decided it was time for her to go back to Twilight Town. When she got there not much had changed, she helped Cid with his gummis and she went shopping with Aerith and Yuffie, and she trained with Leon, and still every night she would sit out on her balcony and wonder about Riku. Was he all right? Was he back to normal? Did he find Kairi? If so, had he hurt her? Had he loved her?

It was on one of these nights when it was raining that Yuri saw a figure with long white hair wearing black clothing. "Riku?" Yuri jumped down from her balcony and went to him. "Riku?" He turned and lunged at her.

"Where is KAIRI!?" His eyes weren't the same. They were mean, angry.

"I don't know." He lunged and she blocked. They danced like that for thirty minutes, Yuri was getting tired and Riku wasn't backing down. He insisted that Yuri knew where Kairi was.

"Why are you lying to me?! You are supposed to be my friend!" His words stung and stunned her, so much so that she forgot to block. Riku's swipe cut deep into her stomach. After that, slicing her to pieces was a piece of cake. He tore up her stomach so that _she _hardly recognized it. Her red shirt was getting redder and was torn to pieces. All Riku had to show for their fight was a small scratch on his cheek that he hardly seemed to feel.

"Riku….Please!" Yuri sobbed. "This, what you're doing, it isn't you. Please. It's not you!" Tears streamed down her cheeks. He simply looked at her with disdain.

"You are a weakling. Always were. Not like the Princess Kairi."

"_Princess _Kairi?"

"That's right. And you are not worthy to talk of her. She will help open the door." Riku rushed her and forcefully sliced her stomach again, sending her flying back into a wall. "Now die in pain weakling." He kicked her in her already tender stomach then sauntered away.

"Riku…" She whispered in pain looking up into the crying sky, her own tears mingling with its. _Is this really the end? Am I really going to die here like the weakling he says I am?....No….it's not my time. Not yet._

Riku had seen himself, as if looking at himself from another point of view. He'd tried to stop himself, but he couldn't stop his actions any more than he could stop the words that were produced from his mouth. He watched in horror as he sliced through Yuri's stomach again and again. Her body was bleeding profusely, her eyes were pleasing and crying but to no avail. Riku couldn't regain power over his body. What was going on? He heard himself call her a weakling. But he knew she was anything but a weakling. He didn't know anybody else that could have taken that beating and still be alive. He prayed that she would live through this. He kicked her in the gut and walked away from her dieing body. She looked up into the sky and whispered his name, crying. How he wished he could go to her and scoop her up and take her to safety, away from himself. But the only way to save her now was to do the only thing he could control, walk away. So he did. He walked away as if he didn't care when inside he was screaming at himself and trying to break free to regain control of his body.

Yuri grabbed her stomach and rolled to her side. Carefully she braced herself on the wall she had been slammed against and struggled to rise to her feet. Using the wall as support Yuri made her way to the house, but no one was in there. She carefully turned back and tried to walk down the steps but fell down them, banging her head and her stomach. Yuri tentatively used the wall again to raise herself and made her way to the door connecting the third and first districts. She knew she just had to make it to the shop where they would all surely be. Yuri made it to the stairs before she had to result to crawling. When she reached the top of the stairway Yuri righted herself and burst through the door to the shop. "Cid…help me…"


	4. Battles for Life and Death

Ch. 3

Cid stared at the girl in the doorway. Surely this was not the same girl he had offered to house only three months before. She was completely different. The girl he had offered to house wore a purple skirt with a black cut off shirt and had short cropped black hair that fell in her sad purple eyes. This girl, she wore a short black skirt over black stockings and black boots; she had a red tank top that she was covering with one arm and her black hair was now as long as Leon's though not as choppy, it still fell in her purple eyes, but they were sadder and wiser, like she had seen too much, learned too much for her age. At the moment she supported herself with one arm leaning on the door frame. "You ok kid?" Cid knew that was a stupid question the minute it was out of his mouth. He could see her tank top was torn and it looked like she was bleeding profusely and there were tear stains trailing down her cheeks and still some fresh ones finding their way down from her enormous, hurting eyes. But, the question made her smile. It was the same question he asked her every time she walked in.

"Yuri?" Aerith and Yuffie walked forward and led her to lay on the couch. "What happened?"

"Riku…..darkness…..Kairi….princess…." Her eyes closed and she let darkness overcome her tired body, allowing herself to forget for a moment the pain both physical and emotional that was destroying her. When she woke she would tell them of what happened, what she had found out and what she needed to do. But for now, simple darkness would do.

Yuri's eyes closed and her breathing became shallow and labored. While Leon ran off to find Merlin, Aerith and Yuffie pulled up her shirt to examine her stomach. They gasped and tears filled Aerith's eyes, her gentle heart was almost unable to bear the sight of Yuri's torn stomach. It was torn horribly, at least twelve long, bloody gashes. Even if they were able to heal her, she would always bear the scars from whatever happened. _What happened to you? Who would do this to you?_ No body could imagine who would want to do that to Yuri. She was a kind person and she loved to laugh. Her heart was huge and even though she was trying to find her friends she helped the people she found along the way.

Leon ran through the door followed closely by Merlin. Yuri had trained with Merlin for a while and even after she was done training she would go and have tea with him regularly and just go there to chat. She made him feel as if he were young again, she would laugh and talk with him like he wasn't an old fool. "Oh dear." Merlin was even at a loss for words. He tried his hardest to heal her, but there were still some wounds that he couldn't get rid of so the girls had to bandage Yuri's torso and let her rest for a while. "What happened?" Merlin couldn't leave knowing that someone had hurt this child whom he'd grown so fond of.

"We don't know Merlin." Aerith sat holding Yuri's head in her lap. "All she said was, 'Riku, darkness, and Kairi's a princess.'" The group sat around in silence, just waiting for Yuri to wake up and set their minds at ease. They tried to wait through the night, but ended up taking shifts of being awake in case Yuri woke.

When she finally did wake it was Leon's watch. Her eyes fought to open and she moaned. "Yuri?" Leon's voice broke through the darkness. She moaned again, trying to make words. "Guys, she's waking up." Leon's hand brushed some hair out of Yuri's face.

"Yuri?...Yuri it's Aerith, can you open your eyes?" Yuri was quiet and slowly opened her eyes. She was grateful that there were no lights on so her eyes would burn less as she opened them. "Yuri? Can you tell us what happened?" Yuri relayed her fight with Riku to them, stopping frequently to take a deep breath.

"Can I look in a mirror?"

"Um…" Yuffie looked unsure and looked at the others who also looked a little worried.

"I can take it. Whatever I look like, I'm stronger than I used to be." Yuffie helped her up and led her to a door with a full length mirror on it. Yuri looked at herself and saw someone she didn't know. The black makeup around purple eyes was smeared and running down her face, but she could still see the dark rings from crying. Her red tank top was shredded and covering white bandages. She lifted her shirt and saw that blood was leaking through the bandages reaching up to her chest. "It wasn't Riku. He was over come by darkness. I have to find Sora."

"You have to get better first." Leon moved her back to the couch and laid her back. "Get better, get stronger, _then_ go find Sora and help him." Yuri nodded and went back to sleep.

Yuri spent the next month gaining strength and training, training harder than ever before. She surpassed Leon, then she set off to find Sora. When she did find him he was in a place called Never Land. Yuri found that she could fly after a while and that if she were to stay there she would never grow older. They stayed there and helped a boy called Peter Pan to defeat the evil Captain Hook. It was only after this she could speak to Sora alone about Riku. "Sora." Yuri motioned for him to follow her to the back of the ship. "Sora, while you were away I ran in to Riku again."

"Really!"

"Yes….but you shouldn't be too excited." She explained what had happened and Sora's face fell. "He's looking for Kairi. I think something bad will happen if he's found her." Sora went back to the front of the ship and they found a new world called Hollow Bastion. It was covered in darkness. "I have a bad feeling about this." As they were making their way to what seemed to be a large castle they met a very angry being called Beast, and a beast he was. Beast was in the midst of fighting Riku when he fell to the ground and Sora stepped in.

"Stop."

"So, you finally made it. About time. I've been waiting for you. We've always been rivals, haven't we? You've always pushed me as I've always pushed you."

"Riku…" Sora could see some of his old friend still in their. Yuri felt as if she'd been completely forgotten.

"But it all ends here. There can't be two keyblade masters."

Every one looked about confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Let the keyblade choose…it's true master." Riku held out his hand and the keyblade started shaking in Sora's. It looked as if the keyblade was trying to escape Sora's hold. He tried to keep it, held it with both hands, but in the end it disappeared.

"huh?" Goofy stared.

"What?" Yuri and Donald gaped at where the keyblade used to be. The keyblade appeared in Riku's hand. "Oh no." Yuri stood in shock.

"Maleficent was right. You don't have what it takes to save Kairi. It's up to me. Only the keyblade master can open the secret door…and change the world."

"But that's impossible. How did this happen? I'm the one who fought my way here with the keyblade!" Sora looked desperate.

"You were just the delivery boy. Sorry, your part's over now. Here, go play hero with this." Riku tossed a wooden sword that landed at Sora's feet. Sora fell to his knees and then to his hands in defeat.

"Riku…why?..." Yuri knelt down and placed her hands on Sora's shoulders, trying to be supportive.

Riku ignored her and turned to leave. "Goofy, let's go. We have to remember our mission." Donald started to turn away.

Goofy didn't know where to go. "Oh! Well I know the king told us to follow the key and all….But…" Goofy followed Donald and they started to follow Riku.

"How can you do this to him? You guys have been through so much together and now you're just going to ditch him?!" Yuri couldn't fathom why following the key was so much more important than comforting a friend.

Donald stopped and looked back slightly. "Sora, sorry." Then the two of them ran off after the disappearing Riku.

From behind Yuri and Sora, Beast rose heavily and stumbled forward. Yuri stood straight and watched in admiration, _he must be fighting for a very important reason…or person…._Beast fell to his knees. Sora stood and ran to help Beast. "Hey don't move. You're hurt."

"Why…why did you….you come here?" Beast sounded so tired. "I came to fight for Belle." He fought to get to his feet yet again. "And though I'm on my own, I will fight. I won't leave without her." He walked heavily forward. _That's….romantic…._

Sora stood straight and went to retrieve the wooden sword. "Me too. I'm not gonna give up now. I came to find someone very important to me." Sora looked at Yuri and together they, along with Beast, walked in the direction of Riku.

They reached a large room with two staircases. "Be on your guard. They're close, I can feel it. Are you ready for them?" Sora and Yuri nodded that they were and looked into the room cautiously. Belle appeared behind them in the darkness. "Belle?" Beast reached for her, but she turned into a heartless. Beast let out a mighty roar and ran after it. He was barely through the door when it slammed shut behind him.

"Beast?" Yuri hoped he would be alright.

"Quit while you can." The sound of Riku's voice made them turn with their guard up.

"No." Sora stood his ground, finally. "Not without Kairi."

Riku's outfit changed, it became black and blue. "The darkness will destroy you."

Yuri mumbled under her breath, "'Cuz we can all see how well it's worked for you."

"You're wrong Riku. The darkness may destroy my body, but it can't touch my heart. My heart will stay with my friends. It'll never die!" Sora's voice was filled with a strange passion.

"Really…well we'll just see about that." Riku sent what looked like a dark energy ball. Sora stood in front of Yuri to protect her. As the dark orb was about to hit them, it didn't. They looked up to see Goofy holding his shield in front of them.

"Sora ain't gonna go anywhere."

"You'd betray your king?" Riku tried to make Goofy feel guilty.

"Not on your life! But I'm not gonna betray Sora, either 'cause he's become one of my best buddies after all we've been through together!" Goofy turned to Donald. "See ya later Donald! Could you tell the King I'm real sorry?"

"Hold on, Goofy! We'll tell him together." Donald ran over to their group and looked at Sora and Yuri. "Well, you know. All for one and one for all."

"I guess you're stuck with us, Sora." Goofy hyucked.

"Thanks a lot….Donald, Goofy…..Yuri."

"How will you fight without a weapon?" Riku didn't give them any time to bask in their friendship.

"I know now that I don't need the keyblade. I've got a better weapon. My heart."

Riku scoffed, "Your heart? What good will that weak little thing do for you?"

"Although my heart may be weak, it's not alone. It's grown with each new experience, and it's found a home with all the friends I've made. I've become part of their heart just as they've become part of mine. And if they think of me now and then…if they don't forget about me…then our hearts will be one. I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power." Yuri was tearing up when she noticed that the wooden sword in Sora's hand was being replaced by the Keyblade. Riku looked surprised but was poised to fight in no time. Sora and his friends fought Riku, but Yuri couldn't bring herself to, she was still so scared. When Sora finally defeated Riku, Riku's clothes changed from dark into his normal ones and he ran away.

The beast reentered the room. "So, your _heart_ won this battle."

They all set out to find Kairi and Riku again. They found what looked to be a library and they found that when some books were removed or put back the shelves moved. Sora and Yuri worked until they were able to get all the way through the maze and into a different room to continue their search. Their journey led them to a large room with many torches with green flames. In the center stood Maleficent. "I'm afraid you're too late. Any moment now, the final keyhole will be unsealed. This world will be plunged into darkness. It is unstoppable." She sounded so pleased with herself.

Sora got ready to fight. "We'll stop it! After coming this far, there's no way we're gonna let that happen!"

"You poor simple fools. You think you can defeat me?" She was getting angry. "Me, the mistress of all evil?" The floor beneath her rose as she commanded and they knew the battle had started. She summoned what seemed to be dogs covered in armor, and boy did they pack a bite. She also rained down meteors of darkness and sometimes out of no where she would let her chunk of floor drop, sometimes landing on top of them. Once Maleficent raised herself high over the others and conjured what Yuri supposed were ghosts. The battle seemed to take forever, Yuri didn't know if they would come out alive, but finally Sora found a way onto her ground and defeated her while the others distracted her.

As Sora was getting ready to defeat her once and for all, Maleficent retreated into a dark portal. Sora looked at Yuri and they nodded at each other, silently agreeing to run after her. The portal led them to a large room surrounded by thorns and fallen pillars. In the middle of it was Maleficent leaning over, clutching her heart; and Riku, offering her help.

"Riku." Both Sora and Yuri called out to him, hoping beyond all hope he would be back to normal.

"Is that-?" Donald stared at the dark, warped keyblade in Riku's hand.

"Yes. A keyblade. But unlike yours, this keyblade holds the power to unlock people's hearts. Allow me to demonstrate…" Riku looked up to the sky then turned and stabbed Maleficent with his keyblade. "Behold!"

"Wha-" Maleficent seemed as stunned as everyone else.

"Now, open your heart, surrender it to the darkness!" Riku commanded her. "Become darkness itself!" He retreated back into a dark portal and Maleficent looked crazed.

"This is it! This power! Darkness…the true darkness!" Green flames shot up out of her and to the sides walls of darkness streamed. When the darkness left them, all they could see was the giant dragon that had become Maleficent. She was so large that when she reared up and slammed herself down again, the shockwaves jerked one to their knees. She shot green fire from her mouth and it hurt so bad. Sora got burned by it once, Yuri got burned many times trying to defend the others who were suffering. After many minutes in battle Sora dealt the final blow to the dragon form of Maleficent. She writhed and fell to the ground, and then burst into green flames.

"How ironic." Riku walked over her ashes. "She was just another puppet after all."

"What?" Donald summed up what they were all thinking.

"The heartless were using Maleficent from the beginning. She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her. A fitting end for such a fool." He sounded so…cold…so dead…not like the Riku she had known. Not like the Riku who loved competition and staying up late to watch the ocean in the moonlight.

Riku rubbed the toe of his boot in Maleficent's remains and they disappeared. Riku walked backwards into the dark portal, his eyes not once leaving Yuri's. Yuri stood long enough to watch Riku disappear; once he did she fell to her knees, barely holding on to Beast's hand for support. She had many wounds from the battles. Donald gave Yuri a potion and it helped a little, but she was still pretty tired and wounded. Sora decided that they had to go after Riku, because wherever Riku was, Kairi was sure to be. So they retreated through the dark portal they had entered.

Along the way they lost themselves in the maze that was the castle, and somehow found themselves in a room with a large staircase. Yuri struggled to the top with the help of Goofy, but when they were about to step onto the platform a force field shut them out. "Riku…" She saw him at the top. But Sora only saw Kairi lying on the ground.

"Kairi!" He ran to her and picked up the top half of her body. "Kairi! Kairi! Open your eyes!" He shook her slightly, trying in vain to wake her.

"It's no use." Riku spoke from atop the strange, glowing heart. "That girl has lost her heart. She cannot wake up." His voice was so different it brought tears of immense sadness to Yuri's eyes. Now not only had the darkness consumed him, but someone else had taken over his body.

Sora gently laid Kairi down. "What? You…you're not Riku." He stood to face Riku.

"The keyhole cannot be completed so long as the last princess of heart still sleeps." Riku floated down from his perch.

"The princess…? Kairi's a princess?" _So that's what he meant…Kairi's a princess of heart…_

"Yes, and without her power, the keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened."

Sora got angry. "Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!"

Riku continued like Sora hadn't spoken. "But first, you must _give_ the princess back her heart." He swung his keyblade and the space above Sora's heart glowed a pink color. Sora fell to his knees, holding his heart.

"Sora!" Donald showed concern for his friend.

"What's-" Sora didn't understand, he wasn't as quick to catch on as Yuri. _Her heart is _in _him?_

"Don't you see yet? The princess's heart is responding. It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"

"Kairi…Kairi's inside me?" Sora turned to gaze at Kairi.

"I know all that there is to know."

"Tell me. Who are you?"

"It is I, Ansem, the seeker of darkness." Riku, Ansem (A/N Riku will now be called Ansem), walked toward Sora in a determined manner. Donald "screamed" and ran toward Ansem, but was flung away and sent down the stairs opposite of Yuri and Goofy. "So, I shall release you now, Princess. Complete the keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me in to everlasting darkness!" Ansem looked as if he was going to crash his keyblade over Sora's head. Yuri gasped and everything seemed to go in slow motion. Ansem's blade got closer, and closer, he was going to kill Sora. Then out of no where Sora braced his own keyblade above his head in defense.

"Forget it." Sora rose to his feet. "There's no way you're getting Kairi's heart!" The battle began and it was frightful. Sora had to heal himself a lot and when he ran out of magic he had to use potions. Ansem's attacks were strong and painful. Finally, when Sora defeated Ansem blue lightening engulfed him. He dropped his keyblade. "Riku!" Sora ran toward Riku, but Riku disappeared.

Goofy had helped Yuri to meet Donald at the platform. "Sora! Sora look!" Donald tried to get Sora's attention.

"The…The keyhole!" Goody looked toward the large glowing heart. Sora walked to where they were and tried to lock it, but nothing happened. "It won't work! The keyhole's not finished yet!"

Sora put his keyblade away. "What can we do?"

"Maybe we've gotta go wake Kairi up."

"I think you're right. If we can free her heart…but…but how?"

"Sora," Yuri jerked her head toward the keyblade left behind by Ansem.

"A keyblade that unlocks people's hearts…I wonder."

"Sora?" Goofy questioned. Sora walked toward the keyblade slowly, almost unsure. "Sora, hold on!"

"No, wait!" His two animal friends objected while Yuri stayed quiet. It was something Sora felt he had to do, she wouldn't interfere. Sora already had the blade in his hands and he smiled back reassuringly. He stabbed himself in the heart. And his hands fell to his sides. The blade pulled itself out and disappeared into bubbles of light. The bubbles of light separated and embedded into the sleeping princesses Yuri just noticed. One last white bubble emerged from Sora's torso and floated into Kairi. The keyhole shone a white light and white light surrounded Sora, lifting him up off of his feet. "Sora…Sora!"

His friends were so concerned with Sora falling that Yuri was the only one to see Kairi rise to her feet. "Sora!" Kairi's voice rung through the air. She ran to catch him but as soon as her small hands touched him, he disappeared into light.

"Sora!" Donald screamed to the sky. "Come back, Sora!"

"Oh no." A tear escaped Yuri's purple eye.

Goofy Donald and Kairi all stood with their arms raised up to their waist, looking up at the sky. "Sora, are you really-" Kairi looked like she was going to cry. "No. He can't be! I won't let him go!" She was so determined. They looked around, trying to find a way to bring Sora back, even Yuri got up to try and help.

"So, you have awakened at last, Princess." A figure appeared out of the darkness. He wore a long white coat and his skin was very brown. "The keyhole is now complete. You have served your purpose. But now it's over." He took a step toward their group, but Donald, Goofy, and Yuri moved in front of Kairi.

"Don't make another move!" Donald raised his staff.

Goofy talked behind his shield in a hushed voice. "Do you think we can stop him all by ourselves?" Yuri shook her head no but got her keyblade Soul Searcher out in battle position.

"I don't know!" The man got closer.

"Impossible…" it looked like he was struggling against something. Riku's form was shimmering in front of the man. _He must be Ansem…_

"No. You won't use me for this!"

"Fight him Riku." Yuri couldn't speak above a whisper. Riku put his arms out as if to keep Ansem away from them.

"Riku!" Kairi shouted his name. Riku looked up at Kairi. _Why is it always _you _he sees?..._

"You've got to run! The heartless are coming!" Heartless rose up all around them. Kairi looked to Goofy and Donald and nodded. They turned to run but Yuri stayed back. Riku stared at her. "Yuri….." He saw how wounded she was physically and emotionally. She couldn't even stand up straight. Her face was bloody and bruised, her clothes were torn and her arms were shaking with the effort to hold her keyblade. He'd felt the sting of it, but he knew she had felt his even worse. Through her torn shirt he could see scars on her stomach. _I put those there…_He looked at her face and saw the tear stains running down her cheek, saw her desperate, devastated eyes. _It's all my fault…_ "Yuri…I'm so sorry…go…"

"Riku……I hate….that I can't hate you….." She turned, her head hanging. "Be careful…please….and don't worry too much about Kairi…I'll take care of her"

"Right now I'm worried about you." Her heart melted, just a little. Just to hear him worry for her…not Kairi…even if it was a lie. "Go."

Yuri turned and ran as well as she could and it broke Riku's heart to see her in so much pain. She limped down the stairs and held her arm in pain, she stumbled out the door. _Why…?_

Yuri caught up to Goofy, Donald and Kairi. "What about the keyhole?" They didn't know what to do.

"Let's just get out of here!" Yuri pushed them forward. They went into the room where they first fought Riku. Goofy and Donald were at the bottom of the steps looking up to Kairi and Yuri.

Goofy yelled for them to hurry, but Kairi said that she couldn't leave them behind, Yuri agreed. "There isn't a way we can save Riku right now…especially not without Sora, but there has to be a way to get Sora back…."

"We can't stay here!" Donald argued.

Kairi sighed and ran down to them leaving Yuri to limp after her. Goofy got very worried. "Yuri, hurry. A heartless is after us!"

"I'll take care of him!" Donald raised his staff to protect the others. The heartless ran toward them and Donald hit him over the head. "Confounded Heartless! Get lost, will ya?"

The heartless looked around, seemingly trying to plead. Kairi looked at it. "Sora? Is that you?" More heartless appeared.

"Uh oh." Yuri stood ready to fight for Kairi as the Donald and Goofy ran to fight the surrounding heartless.

"This time, I'll protect you." Kairi stood in front of the heartless she called Sora. _Is it really him?...he doesn't seem to want to harm her…_ the heartless attacked Yuri and drew her away from Kairi. While Yuri was fighting she could see more heartless forming a circle around Kairi and Sora, slowly closing in. "Sora!" Kairi turned and held onto Sora as the heartless jumped at them.

"Kairi!" Yuri tried to fight her way over just as Donald and Goofy did. But a light shot from the middle of them and the heartless disappeared leaving Sora holding Kairi.

"Kairi, thank you."

"Sora…."

"SORA!" Donald and Goofy were ecstatic.

"Good to see you." Yuri leaned on her keyblade, trying to conserve her strength. More heartless surrounded them and the friends moved into a circle so no one had their back to the heartless. A ferocious roar rang through the room and they turned to see the Beast perched at the top of a gargoyle. He leaped down and fought off a heartless then turned to the group.

"Go! Now!"

"Come with us!" Sora pleaded while Yuri held Kairi around the waist trying to get her to start walking.

"I told you before, I'm not leaving without Belle." Yuri smiled at Beast. He really was in love. "Now, go! The heartless are coming!"

"Alright." Sora let Beast win. "Let's get out of here." Their group turned and ran out, leaving Beast on his own, they all couldn't help but feel a little bad. _I don't want to leave Riku….but he won't stay here for long…._


	5. Going Back

Ch. 4

They all loaded up into the gummi ship and flew back to Traverse Town. "Sora, I want to take Kairi to see Merlin, just to make sure she's ok, and maybe to get myself healed to." Sora nodded at Yuri as they walked off the ship. Yuri took Kairi's hand and took her to the third District and to Merlin's house. "Merlin's a friend of mine. He's a wizard."

"Cool." She walked quietly beside Yuri.

"Kairi….I have a problem……" Kairi looked at Yuri. "….You……do you like Riku?"

"Of coarse silly." She laughed. "He's one of my best friends."

"No….what I mean is…..Do you like him as more than a friend?" They both stopped and looked at each other. Kairi's blue ones staring confusedly into Yuri's sad purple ones.

"You do, don't you?" Yuri nodded. "Don't worry….I…..I like Sora…." She smiled up to the sun. Yuri smiled at Kairi.

"Now if only Riku liked _me _instead of _you_." Kairi looked with sympathy at Yuri as they walked into Merlin's home.

Merlin declared Kairi fine and then turned his attentions to Yuri who he had to heal a couple times before she was better. "Thank you Merlin. We better go back to see what kind of trouble Sora's gotten himself into." Merlin smiled and waved before setting back to playing with magic. Yuri led Kairi into the third district and up to the home she had missed since she left a short while ago with Sora. They walked in to see Leon talking to Sora.

"Don't worry, Sora. If anyone can save your friend, you can." Sora nodded and took Kairi aside. Kairi looked sad but nodded. Then Sora, Donald and Goofy left.

"Hey Kairi, why don't I show you around?" Kairi looked at Yuri then smiled gratefully and nodded.

"That'd be nice." Yuri took her out and showed her around the second and first district.

"Let's go get something to eat from the café and then there's a place I want to show you…It sometimes reminds me of the secret place back home…on Destiny Island." Yuri took Kairi to the underground waterway. They stayed there looking at a beautiful mural on the back wall of a smiling sun. Sora stopped by and found them. He talked to Kairi for a while as Yuri sat and ate her food. Kairi pointed out the mural on the back wall and Sora went to look at it.

"Hey look!" Yuri stood and watched the mural shine and turn into a moon. Something came out of it and landed in Sora's open hands. "It's the navigation gummi Cid said we need to go back to Hollow Bastion."

"Wait…You're going back?" Yuri put her hand on Kairi's shoulder. "I'm coming with you."

"No. It's too dangerous. Stay here with Kairi."

"Sora, I'm not staying here. I want Riku back. I have some things I need to tell him."

"Fine, we should get back then, we'll have a long journey." Yuri nodded and left with Donald and Goofy back to the house.

In the morning Sora, Goofy and Donald went to Cid to talk about the gummi ship. An hour later Yuri joined them at the gate. "We're ready to go. Are you?" Yuri nodded at Sora and they left for Hollow Bastion.

"Kairi's not coming?"

"No….but she's with me…in my heart." Yuri smiled and knew that Sora liked Kairi just as much as Kairi liked him.

When they reached Hollow Bastion Beast was there to great them. "Where's Belle?"

"Still in the castle."

"Against her will?" Goofy asked every one's concern.

"No, I think she stayed for a reason. The other princesses are inside as well."

"I wonder why?" Donald asked.

"Let's go ask them." Sora resolved.

"You may need my strength. I'll go with you." They followed Sora into the castle and found two princesses waiting in the first room: Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Cinderella.

Cinderella spoke first. "We've been waiting for you, keyblade master."

"Where is Ansem?"

"Gone."

"Riku…" Yuri gasped.

"When the keyhole appeared, darkness poured out of it." Aurora explained. "It swallowed Ansem and he disappeared."

Cinderella continued. "Though Ansem is gone, the flood of darkness hasn't stopped. We're working together to hold it back."

"I cannot forget the look on his face." Aurora looked disturbed. "As the darkness engulfed him, he was smiling." It made Yuri sick to hear, but she knew it was true. Sora looked around and found three other princesses in the room: Jasmine, Alice and Snow White.

"Come one, let's go see what they can tell us." The others nodded and went to talk to the girls.

As they approached Jasmine pleaded with Sora. "Sora, please hurry! Darkness is pouring from the keyhole."

"It's all we can do just to hold back the darkness." Alice added.

"I don't know how long we can manage even that." Snow White finished.

"All right. We're on our way." Sora promised.

"We're counting on you, keyblade master. In the meantime we'll do what we can, too." They left the princesses to run to the room with the keyhole. Sora ran into the keyhole and disappeared. The rest followed slowly.

Inside they found a large heartless with huge tusks and three horns. After attacking for a while they were tired. "Sora, this isn't working…" Yuri jumped and hit the heartless in the middle of the head, accidentally hitting his horn. The heartless yelped in pain. "Sora! We have to aim for the horn!" They continued attacking the horn and after a great deal of time they defeated it.

"Now let's go and seal that big keyhole!" Goofy stared at the keyhole.

A voice came from behind them. "Sora. You did it." They turned and saw a glowing green archway. They walked through it and found that they were back in the solid room and waiting for them were Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"We came in Cid's ship." Yuffie answered.

"This is our childhood home." Aerith explained. "We wanted to see it again."

"It's in worse shape than I feared." Leon was always so serious. "It used to be so peaceful…"

"Don't worry." Aerith comforted. "If we defeat Ansem, all should be restored. Including your island." Sora and Yuri exchanged smiles.

"Really?"

"But it also means goodbye." Yuffie was unusually solemn.

Aerith elaborated. "Once the worlds are restored, they'll all be separated again."

"Everyone will go back to where they came from."

"Then I'll visit you guys with the gummi ship." The solution was simple for Sora, but Leon ruined it.

"It's not that simple."

"Before all this, you didn't know about the other worlds, right?" Yuffie went on.

"Because every world was isolated. Impassable walls divided them.

"The heartless destroyed those walls. But if the worlds return, so will the walls."

Leon finally spoke on the subject. "Which means gummi ships will be useless."

"So you're saying we'll never…" Sora trailed off and every one hung their heads.

"We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other." Leon was unusually optimistic.

Aerith continued, "No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again.

Yuffie added her bit, "Besides, I couldn't forget you guys even if I wanted to."

Sora got offended. "What's that supposed to mean?" The others were amused, but no one noticed Yuri behind Sora. She still hung her head. _But that means I'll never see Riku again….doesn't it…?_

"Sora!" Donald called from the keyhole.

"Hurry! Come on and close the keyhole!"

"Sora, good luck." Sora nodded at Leon and ran to the keyhole. He locked it and the darkness stopped flowing. The princesses were all very grateful but told them of a darkness they could feel growing somewhere far away. Sora promised to find the darkness and destroy it thinking that it was Ansem. But before leaving they had yet to find Belle. So Sora led them into the library where they found Leon and Aerith looking at the books. They searched but still could not find Belle so they went up the staircase. And there, on the second level, was Belle.

"Belle." Beast was ecstatic as he went to embrace her. _He is so in love….and he probably doesn't even know it…_After finally reuniting Beast and Belle, Sora decided it was time to leave.

"To find Riku?" Yuri asked quietly as they boarded the ship. Sora nodded.

On the ship they looked at the map and saw that there was a new world. When they chose to go and disembark, the world was labeled…End of the World…


	6. End Of the World

Ch. 5

When they landed in The End of the World they found themselves on a small grey island in the middle of what seemed to be a purple sea. "I don't like this…" Yuri stayed close to Sora.

Goofy sounded scared as well. "Gawrsh, is that all that's left of the worlds taken by the heartless?" They looked out and saw other even smaller islands floating around. In the distance, behind all the islands, Yuri saw a swirling light.

"Sora…look…"

He nodded. "Those worlds will be restored if we beat Ansem, right?" Yuri nodded.

"You betcha." Donald confirmed.

"But, if we do beat him and all these worlds become restored and disconnected, what's gonna happen to this place? And to us?"

"Well, uh…"

Goofy covered for Donald. "This is a heartless world, so maybe it'll just disappear." Sora and Donald seemed surprised by this conclusion. Yuri thought Goofy was right, if they destroyed the heartless, the heartless disappeared…so why wouldn't their world? "But no worries. Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't goin nowhere. I'm sure we'll find our pals again. Yup, I just know that we will."

"I hope you're right Goofy…I hope you're right…" Yuri couldn't help but doubt that after this, she'd never see her pals again…or Riku…not that it would matter seeing as she wasn't as important to him as Kairi was….

"First, I think we should go back to Hollow Bastion. I don't know if we're ready quite yet." The others nodded and followed Sora back to the ship. _Riku…._ Yuri couldn't help herself. She felt his presence on that world and didn't want to leave him there. But she knew she had to.

They found themselves in the Magician's Study, Merlin's home, so that Sora could put the rest of the pages back in Pooh's storybook. While he went in to the story book Yuri sat and had tea with Merlin. "Hello Merlin."

"Why hello my dear. Would you like some tea? I just made it."

"I'd love some." She needed something to calm her nerves about potentially dieing.

"How are your adventures going? Have you found that…._boy_?" Merlin called Riku 'that boy' because of what he had witnessed of Riku's destructive nature. Mainly Yuri's stomach, still scarred horribly.

"We did find him…when we found Kairi. But something was wrong with him Merlin….he was being possessed by a man named Ansem….I don't know what to do…"

Merlin looked sympathetically at Yuri. "My dear, the only way he has a hope of being saved, is if you defeat this Ansem fellow."

"Yes, but….if we defeat Ansem, all the worlds will be restored and all the walls between the worlds."

"Why is that a bad thing?"

"Because then I'll never be able to see them again….I don't know what I'll do….I'll remember them, but there won't be a way for me to see any of you ever again." Yuri was almost in tears.

"Oh…" Merlin stood and put an arm around Yuri. "That is troubling news. I wonder if there is any way to stop the worlds from being isolated again…" Merlin went to look through his big spell book while Yuri comforted herself with more hot tea.

They waited for two hours, Merlin was still looking in his book. "How long will he be in there do ya think?" Goofy asked.

"How many pages did he find?"

"All of 'em."

"Well then it could be a while. Why don't we go get something to eat?" Yuri took Donald and Goofy to the café and they sat and ate. Donald got salad, Goofy ate a steak and mashed potatoes and Yuri had a chicken Cesar salad with an appetizer of cheesy potato soup. "So, Why are you guys following Sora around exactly? I never learned that."

"Well, the king gave us a very important mission." Donald started.

"Right, I got that."

"He told us to find the key and guide its wielder. We're still looking for the king. Maybe we'll find him when we defeat Ansem." Yuri nodded. "Why are you following us?"

"Well, because of Riku."

"Why?"

"Well Goof….I like him….not really…I love him…but I hate him at the same time. There are some things I need to tell him before our worlds are restored and separated again. I moved away from the island when we were little, right after Kairi came. Because the boys sort of forgot about me, especially Riku…he was only ever concerned with Kairi. So I left. And when the worlds are restored, I won't be able to go back to the island. I'll be wherever my mother and I moved. I won't be able to see him ever again…So I need to tell him that I love him, and always have."

"Oh…so that's why…" They ate in silence for the remainder of the meal. "Think we oughta go back and see if Sora's out yet?" The others nodded and returned to Merlin's place. They only had to wait a few minutes before Sora came out of the book.

"Alright. Let's go." Sora left and Yuri stayed behind for just a moment.

"Merlin…goodbye. Thank you for everything." She hugged him tightly and kissed him on the cheek.

"Oh my." Be careful Yuri. He smiled warmly at her but had tears in his eyes. Maybe they would never see each other again. But something told him they would.

They boarded the gummi ship and returned to The End of the World. They began running toward the other little islands but saw a large purple orb above them. It got closer, they stood and stared at it and soon it engulfed them. When they opened there eyes and looked around they found they were standing on light and all around them were purple masses. Heartless started appearing, but these were different, more evil. They didn't have insignias on them like the normal heartless and they were a lot harder to beat. When they _did_ beat the heartless the world around them disappeared and they found themselves back in The End of the World. That happened six more times. Each time the heartless were more and harder. The last time they were swallowed by the dark orb they defeated the heartless and were dropped in a different place. This place was large and dark. Unlike where they had been, this place had large masses of land, cliffs. After looking around a bit Goofy spoke, "I wonder where that Ansem feller went?"

Donald answered, "Dive into the most dangerous place and we'll find him!"

"That certainly seems to be the pattern doesn't it?" Yuri looked at Sora for what they should do next.

"Well, let's get diving then." Sora went and leapt off the land they were on and glided around. The rest followed his lead, searching for some sign of where Ansem might be.

"Sora…You see that light?" Yuri pointed to a white light at the bottom of the valley.

"Yeah, let's go check it out." The others nodded and followed him into it. The white light engulfed them, causing them to close their eyes from the brightness. When they regained there sight they were on green land with a green ceiling and around them were what looked like teeth. By one set of "teeth" was another, smaller white light. They went to it and it took them to another room like the one they had been in, but this one had a pillar of darkness.

"I bet we should go through here." Donald shivered. "Well you did say the darkest place." He nodded and they entered. This pillar took them to the third district of Twilight Town, but there were many heartless and they seemed to keep coming. They were able to defeat the heartless and took the door that should lead them back in to the first district, but it didn't. It took them to the room with the dark pillar. They looked around curiously before seeing a white light _behind_ the dark pillar. This time they went through the light portal. Which took them to yet another room like the one previous. This time though, instead of going through the dark pillar, they went straight for the white light. In the next room there was instead of a dark pillar, a green one.

"I wonder what this is?" Sora wondered aloud.

"I guess we should go through it?" Yuri stepped forward hesitantly. Sora nodded and led the way through it. It swallowed them up and placed them in a land not familiar to Yuri. It was very green and beautiful, the sky was a very clear blue.

"What are we doing in Pooh's storybook?"

"This is where you were for hours? No wonder, it's beautiful here." Yuri spun around and felt…happy. She was at peace. She knelt down and smelled flowers. After Sora opened a chest they started running back to where they entered and soon light surrounded them and they found themselves back in the room and entered the white light. This light took them to a room that Yuri did not like whatsoever. It was a frightening room with a large pillar of fire in the middle. "Sora…we don't have to go into that do we?" they looked around and saw no other place to go.

"I guess we do." They went forward slowly, careful to not get burned. When the fire surrounded them it took them to a long, narrow corridor with the heartless insignia at the end of it. Heartless appeared, as always. When they were defeated Sora and the others had a chance to look around. Yuri found a small blue door and opened it. Inside more heartless and a few dark holes in the walls. "What are these?"

"I dunno….." Yuri touched one. "Let's get back…this place gives me the creeps." The others nodded and they headed back to the large black hole they popped out of. When they got back into the room, instead of a large pillar of fire, there was a large ring of light on the floor. "This looks much more pleasant." They stepped in and floated down through mist. As they made there way to the bottom they saw an immense shadow form. It was Chernabog (From Fantasia) his massive form blocked the mouth of a volcano. Chernabog breathed fire and was able to create fire walls around him, but that wasn't their most problematic problem. The most problematic attack was these orbs that knocked you out if touched. His life bar was endless and he seemed tireless. It took all of an hour to defeat him, mostly because they had to fly while attacking him. Finally Chernabog exploded in a blue fire. He disappeared along with the fiery glow so Yuri and Sora could see that there were places to be walked on inside the mountain. "Let's go in?" Sora nodded and glided down, closely followed by Yuri and the others. They went through many levels of the mountain only to end up in glowing holes that took them to other parts of the mountain with more glowing holes. "Is it just me or is this part getting boring?"

"Yeah…seems like something should happen." Sora agreed. As soon as he spoke they went through a glowing hole in the wall and fell into a glowing green floored room. "Oookay?" They walked forward while Yuki stayed to the side staring.

"Sora watch out!" She saw as the large heartless with three horns dropped from the ceiling on to her friends. They defeated him and went to the floating heartless insignia at the other end of the room. As they stood in front of it the top left circular piece broke off and dropped to the ground. "I guess this means we've got like two more…and something tells me the last one won't be easy." The others silently and dreadfully agreed with Yuri.

Noises from behind them made them turn. Before them the scary, ghost like heartless. After the ghosts were tall heartless with swords. After those heartless were odd heartless that looked like metal, but with white wings. Then more ghosts. The run of heartless never seemed to end. Yuri chanced a glance at the door to see if any of their efforts were getting them any where. She saw that the heart door was slowly deteriorating. The last piece of the heart fell away. "Sora! Hurry! Through the door! GO!" Yuri stayed and fended off the heartless while the others went through the door first. "For all we're doing we _better_ get Riku back or I'm going to kill someone." Sora had to smile at Yuri.

Through the heart door there was yet another door, this one was an actual door though. Sora walked up to push it open but stopped. "Huh?"

"What's wrong?" Donald asked.

"Don't you hear something? There!"

Yuri put her ear to the door. "um…no…"

"I don't hear anything." Donald confirmed.

"Strange…" Sora's eyes were distant. "That voice was so familiar. Maybe it's just my imagination."

"Maybe you'd better take a rest!"

Sora ignored Donald and opened the door. Light shone through it and blinded them for a moment. When they regained their sight they beheld a beach. "Wait…is this….Destiny Island?" Yuri stared at her old home. "What are we doing here?""Wait…" Sora was thinking. "When the heartless came here, there was a strange door in the secret place….lets go there."

They stood before the hole to the secret place and a low male voice spoke. "This world has been connected." An island disappeared.

"What was that?" Goofy asked.

The voice spoke again and as he did, more things disappeared. "Tied to the darkness…..soon to be completely eclipsed. There is so very much to learn." The beautiful blue sea turned the dark, vile purple of the darkness. "You understand so little." The earth shook and they held each other for stability. "A meaningless effort."

Yuri turned and gasped. "Sora…" She breathed. Looking at the beach, the ocean was purple, if it was even an ocean any more. The land was cracked, and the sky was torn to that purple showed through. In the middle of the cracked land stood Riku in his black attire. Sora led the sprint out to meet Riku. Yuri held her breath and prayed she would hear Riku's voice and not the dead voice of Ansem.

Ansem's voice spoke. "Take a look at this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom this island is a prison surrounded by water. And so this boy sought to escape from his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds. And he opened his heart to darkness." Riku turned and a dark light shone around him. When it was through, Riku wasn't there any more. It was Ansem.

"Riku!" Sora reached out toward Ansem.

"Don't bother. Your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, grows, consumes it…Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came." His voice came from behind them. They turned and jumped back, on their guard.

"He's wrong Sora…" Yuri tried to comfort Sora.

"You see, darkness is the hearts true essence."

"That's not true!" Sora agreed with Yuri. "The heart may be weak. And sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"

Ansem rose to the sky. "So you have come this far and still you understand nothing. Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness." A dark pillar shot up from behind him replaced as it faded with a small, buff looking ghost heartless.

"Get ready for a fight…to the death I fear." Sora nodded and got ready to fight for his life.


	7. It's Over

Ch. 6

The Shadow behind Ansem seemed to actually be a part of him, but at points in the battle the shadow would get in front of him and protect him, making it impossible to actually get a hit on Ansem. And even more annoying was that sometimes Ansem would disappear and reappear somewhere else. But what bothered Yuri the most was that Ansem wasn't attacking except for the occasional lightening. Then out of no where the shadow thing appeared on top of Sora, leaving a shadowy mist, then Yuri, it was weakening her and almost every time they healed it would come back. Then to make things even more annoying, while they were running around trying to avoid the shadow guardian Ansem would produce a dark shield that hurt as well. After much attacking it seemed that they would have him beaten. _It's too easy…_

Ansem retreated up and back into the tree. Sora stopped and stared. "Sora, come on he's getting away!" Yuri kept running.

"Wait! Yuri!" Sora caught her and held her back. The tree began to shake and be uprooted. But instead of being completely uprooted it split apart. "Alright, come on." Yuri nodded and they ran toward Ansem who waited patiently for them inside the torn tree. When they Sora the group reached the top of the rift, Sora jumped into the gaping hole, the others followed suit, but were shut out by yet another invisible force field. All they could do was look on in horror. Yuri prayed that they would all get out of this and that she'd be able to talk to the actual Riku one last time. Especially when out of the darkness, instead of Ansem, rose a very large, very solid shadow that looked surprisingly like the one she herself fought at the very beginning of her very long journey, when she first gained her own keyblade.

With little effort Sora defeated the large heartless and in its place stood Ansem, ready again to fight. It took more effort this time for Sora to defeat him because he was all alone against Ansem and his guardian heartless. When Ansem finally fell they ran to Sora before being engulfed in darkness. "Wha-?" Sora looked around, holding his wrist, sore from battle.

Ansem's voice came from the emptiness. "Behold the endless abyss! Within it lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts!"

"Sora!" Yuri whispered, but it echoed. Sora turned to her and she pointed to a floating piece of land holding a large door.

"Look as hard as you're able. You'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light. From those dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours." They looked around trying to find Ansem and instead faced something large and pink, they floated back to try to see more of it. The pink looked like an open ship with a large black figure atop it. "Darkness conquers all worlds!"

"What the-!" Yuri yelled. She'd seen weird things and people on her journeys, but this was the weirdest by far. Suddenly gravity took effect and they found themselves falling through the darkness. Yuri fell with Donald and Goofy into an orange portal, leaving Sora once again by himself. "SORA! RIKU!" The portal closed over them. There was only darkness. "Donald? Goofy?"

"Here."

"Me too!" Goofy chimed in.

"I hope Sora's ok…" Yuri hung her head, wishing there was more she could do.

She didn't know how long they'd been sitting in darkness, unable to find each other, unable to see, after a time it seemed unable to breathe. But the orange portal appeared like a brilliant bright light above there heads. It sucked them in once again and spat them back out in front of the monster. Yuri grabbed Donald's wing and he grabbed Goofy, together they flew to find Sora. "Where'd you guys go?" He asked panting heavily.

"Darkness, it was awful. You alright?" Yuri responded while goofy and Donald went to fight. Sora nodded and followed them with Yuri trailing closely. _A head…the ship looking mass has a head…..this is really really weird…..and somewhere inside….Riku….._They attacked the head which bit quite frequently and brought down blue lightening around it. The head engulfed in flame and writhed. Sora grabbed Yuri's hand and flew back to observe, after a while the head fell and the mouth was agape with green, red and orange mist swirling inside. "You've got to be kidding me…."

"Come on…we gotta go in." Sora led the way into the giant ship head. When inside they were on a blue floor with only darkness around.

"AH!" Something struck out and wounded Yuri. "Heartless!" They prepared themselves and fought against the unseen enemy. One particular heartless imploded and became orange flame.

"Come on!" Donald lead the way out of the ship mouth and back into dark space. They turned and watched the head explode.

Without speaking Sora flew to the body of the ship. Inside was a large purple mass that pulsed. _A heart?_ They immediately began to hack at it. The heart exploded and they again found themselves out in the dark space. All were panting. "Please tell me it's over?" Yuri held her bleeding side. The body atop the ship began to flail. Ansem fell from the figures mouth.

Sora looked at her wearily. "Something tells me no."

They were fighting. Ansem, four lasers, they were doing pretty well, then he opened what appeared to be a very large, very powerful vortex. "AH!!!" Yuri tried to fly away from it, but was continuing to get sucked in while it shot at her. His blade sliced through her as they continued to fight. Sora got hit with lasers, Goofy and Donald were trying their best but were getting tired. Five hits later Ansem slumped in the air. The ship beneath him began to blow. White light erupted from Ansem's chest. He screamed in what may have been pain or rage. The light grew and engulfed him, just when Yuri thought she couldn't take the blinding light any more it exploded. "Now is it over?" Yuri asked. Ansem floated in front of them again and Yuri sighed.

Ansem writhed. "It is futile. The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness." He turned and reached out to the floating island with the large door and called to it desperately. "Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness…" The door began to open, darkness spilling out of it.

"No…" Yuri whispered as she braced herself for another fight.

"Supreme darkness…"

"You're wrong." Sora spoke now, confident. "I know now, without a doubt. Kingdom Hearts…is light!" The darkness spilling out of the white doors changed to a blinding light. Ansem dissolved in the brilliant light. Sora, Yuri, Donald and Goofy touched down on the floating island and ran toward the door. _I thought Riku would be there…after Ansem was destroyed…?_ Though confused, she followed her friends. Sora braced himself on one door with Yuri and Donald and Goofy braced against the other door.

"Come on!" They began trying to push the door closed.

"I'm confused…why are we closing it…I thought it was light?" Yuri questioned. Goofy looked inside the door and couldn't get his eyes away from whatever he saw.

"Stop staring and keep pushing!" Donald reprimanded him. But Donald looked in and let out a confused quack.

"What's going on you two?" Yuri struggled to talk while she pushed.

"The Heartless!" They both answered. "Hurry!"

"I can't…" Sora looked so helpless. A hand reached out through the other side of the door to help.

"Don't give up!" _Riku!_ "Come on, Sora! Together, we can do it!"

"Okay!" Sora nodded and kept pushing.

"Wait…Riku!" But nobody seemed to hear her.

"It's hopeless!" Donald screamed in frustration.

"Riku I have to tell you something!" Yuri tried to talk.

"Your Majesty!" Donald was elated.

A small girly voice came from inside. "Now Sora, let's close this door for good!"

"Riku!" She tried again.

"Close it quick!" Donald ordered.

"But…" Sora thought of his friend on the other side.

"Don't worry," King Mickey spoke again. "There will always be a door to the light."

"Sora, you can trust King Mickey." _But I can't….none of you…._

"Now! They're coming!" Riku yelled from the other side.

"Donald, Goofy, thank you." Mickey said.

"Take care of her." Riku spoke softly to Sora before the door closed completely. Yuri stared. She didn't bother to push any more. It was clear…clearer than ever, that they didn't need or want her…that to them, she didn't even exist. The door closed and Sora locked it. It disappeared. No more chances to see Riku. No way to tell him how she felt. No way to tell him that she loved him. Or that she hated his guts. No more chances. She let herself sink to her knees on a corner of land. No more love. The land cracked in front of her. No more. She drifted through space, let herself give in to the darkness that was sleep. No Riku…


End file.
